Yet another dive bar takes a dive

I'm not quite sure what the definition of a dive bar is, but I believe it mostly centers around a comfy, non-pretentious place where comfy non-pretentious people hang out. Although I've seen the insides of plenty of them in my day, I haven't spent all that much time in them in the last decade or so. My husband and I did a lot of walking, and walking often ending up for a drink and a bite in a comfy, non-pretentious place. (Bonus points if there was an Irish session going on - our Irish pubs were The Green Dragon, Mr. Dooley's, and The Druid.) Once Jim got sick, we did less walking around. And once he died, well, I still walk every day, I just don't pop into bars for a pop during my walks. (Even if Jim had lived, I suspect we would have aged out of stops at dive bars by now. I would have, anyway.)

Some of our favorites, like the Pour House, which had excellent burgers (for cheap; pretty good fries, too) has closed. Pandemic victim, I think. I'I also think it's reopening.

I'm not sure what put Tim's in the South End out of business. Great burgers, salads, and chili. The home-made dressing was served in old ketchup bottles. It was delish. We loved Tim's, and it was one of the few places in Boston - at least places I've been to - where there were equal numbers of white and Black folks. 

The Littlest Bar is gone, too, but I think that was a real estate thang. 

I'm delighted that something has gone in at the location of the old Red Hat. (Also good cheap burgers and fries.) But I'm less than delighted that they've rebranded themselves and are no longer the Red Hat. So no neon Red Hat sign. (Please explain to me why I couldn't find a picture of the Red Hat sign online!!!!)

But some of the old haunts we occasionally occasioned are still around. The Corner Tavern on Marlborough, just across Mass Ave. Not to be confused with the Corner Cafe in the North End. (Excellent paninis.) Bukowski's Tavern, which I wasn't wild about, but my husband enjoyed, is still in the running. 

There were a couple of Cambridge dive bars that I went to once in a while when I worked near Harvard Square (now over 30 years ago; gulp!). One was the Plough and Stars, which served excellent lunches - the only meatloaf other than my own and my mother's that I've actually liked, and where we'd often see singer-songwriter John Lincoln Wright sitting at the bar in his cowboy hat. John Lincoln Wright died ten years ago, but the Plough lives on.

So does Charlie's Eating and Drinking, a Harvard Square joint where the work gang would sometimes drift into for pitchers and burgers that we called "repeat-a-burgers," because they'd keep coming up on you all afternoon. I'm sure they've been replaced by now, but in my day, the toilet seats in the ladies' room were clear lucite with JFK half dollars embedded in them...

But TT the Bear's in Central Square is, alas gone. On the other hand, I see that the Cantab Lounge has reopened.

On the still open front, The Sevens on Charles Street, which has pretty good food (excellent chili) has survived the pandemic. While the food is good, the wine I found to be pretty terrible. It tasted like it was made from a powdered, Kool-Aid like mix.

And, while I never went there, a fellow volunteer told me that he'd recently stopped into The Tam on Tremont Street. A dive bar if ever.

Then there's the Beacon Hill Pub, which has been around for decades, sitting there on the corner of Charles and Cambridge Streets, radiating dive.

I have been in there exactly once, and that was before it became the Beacon Hill Pub. I think it was called Father's Four, one of a small chain of Father's (Father's, Fathers Too...) At some point in the mid-1970's, my friend Joyce and I - who did not frequent bars - decided we needed to get a bit more social than our norm. So we stopped in. Did we even last for a drink? All I remember is that the guys hanging out in there struck us as speed freaks. We weren't in there for long.

Then it became the Beacon Hill Pub, hangout out for the youngs. Nasty smelling, loud music, often a line out the door on weekends. A dump. A crummy joint. A dive. The picture
makes it look a lot more respectable and inviting than it does IRL. You can't see the beer kegs that are always out front, the vomit on the sidewalk. No thanks.

And if I don't get in there soon - which I won't - I will have missed my chance to hoist one at the Beacon Hill Pub.

As I was recently informed via text by my cousin Rob Kilroy, the Beacon Hill Pub will be closing, to be replaced by nice restaurant.

Yay!

By the way, Rob, in his day (pre-kids and suburban Dad-ness), was known to frequent a dive bar or two. In fact, one time, Jim and I were at The Green Dragon for a session when the door opened, and who popped in as part of a pub crawl but Cousin Rob. Old fogies that we were, and not wanting to contend with the pubcrawlers (too noisy), we were already forging our way out as Rob & Co. forged in. 

Needless to say, I won't miss the Beacon Hill Pub in the least.

Au contraire, as those who don't frequent dive bars might say, I may not go out to drink, but - especially now that it's getting post-covid - I do go out to eat, and I welcome another nice restaurant joining the many nice restaurants my neighborhood already enjoys. 

But for those who will miss it, you have my sympathies. It's tough to lose a place you love to hang out. And, as Boston gets upscalier by the minute, we could do with a bit more grunge -  even if I never see the dive-y inside of a dive bar again.

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And a doff of the Pink Slip cap to Rob Kilroy. This one's for you. (And slightly belated Happy Birthday. Keep it up. Pretty soon you'll be as old as I am.)